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About Us |
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How it began, told by Brian in 2002: Ruth and I grew up in the same small town called Oakland, IA. We went to school together. Ruth was a farmer's daughter and was raised up with registered Angus cattle. (That is a key point you must remember.) I grew up on an acreage in town, yep that's right, a town kid where we had a small horse operation and showed horses on a state and national level. We also broke outside horses for people both English and Western (when I was much younger.) I was raised in a carpenter family and know the construction business very well. As a teen, when I got the opportunity, I would take time off from carpenter work to help farmers put up hay or anything ag related even though it would only pay ˝ of what I would make when I would do carpenter work. I worked for farmers all through my teen years and even though my family never knew it, that is what I always wanted to do, farm. I loved fieldwork in the spring and harvest time in the fall and cattle. Now remember I said Ruth was raised up with registered Angus cattle. She showed her Angus cattle at the county and state fairs and I showed horses. I was aware of her and the cattle way back then but was too bashful to say or do anything about it. Well just like any youngster as you get a little older I found out that hanging around with the boys was not near as much fun as hanging around with girls so I finally got up enough nerve to ask her out. Well to shorten up this part of the story and not embarrass our kids, we dated all through high school and got to be involved with their cattle. I was about 16 years old and her dad, Charles Pinney, and I could hardly wait to go over the newest Angus Journal and studying the pedigrees and watch for the new bulls that would come on the scene. He loved to take us to different breeders around our area and look at the good cattle and there were a lot of them. Planned matings of his Angus cattle were a passion for her father and I loved to watch the progress of his cattle operation. I dreamed of the opportunity to do the same thing some day. This was in the middle 1960's. Well, Ruth and I got married, did what we could do to survive. The owner of the ground that Ruth’s dad farmed passed away and the land was sold to settle an estate. Charles tried to buy it but just got out bid. He moved to Missouri for a couple of years to try to save his 100 registered cows but just could not get enough ground or feed for them and he would not let them go hungry, that I can assure you. He sold his herd and it was a very sad day. I could not even muster up the guts to go to that sale. Both Ruth and I worked but times got tough with interests rates going sky high in the 70’s for those of us that can remember. The construction work just stopped and we just about starved to death. Brad was just a little guy and Julie was getting close to coming into this world. I told Ruth that I have got to go back to school and try to learn another profession, because swinging a hammer just is not going to cut it. I told her I thought this "computer thing" was going to be something and that I wanted to learn how to become a computer programmer. She thought I had lost my mind. In fact if you were to ask her today, she would tell you so herself. She thought I was joking at first and when she saw how serious I was, then she thought I was nuts. I was pretty sure this "computer thing" would be the thing of the future. Guess what, it was. Well, because of this “computer thing” Ruth and I had some success and were able to get some ground and we started raising Angus cattle. Now you got to remember, we did not have to walk into this thing blind. We both knew what it took for a cow to be a good Angus cow from her dad. Charles Pinney knew livestock of any kind, chickens, sheep, hogs, or cattle, it did not matter, this man was a wealth of information. His passion and ours was always Angus cattle. I was paying attention to the performance herds in the country and I knew the pedigrees better than Ruth or her dad at this stage of the game but he knew what to look for and what it took to be a great cow. His philosophy was the cow has to be structurally correct, have a lot of capacity and milk so she will be able to bring in a big calf and not fall apart. Stay away from the hard fed cattle, they may look pretty at the time but they will never keep their condition. He would say if you were to feed a cow that has a lot of natural capacity like you see folks feeding the hard fed kind, she will get gobby fat. There are a lot of other treasures we have from this man. I truly wish he were alive today to see the cow herd that Ruth and I have been able to raise and purchase. His eyes would just be sparkling. When he talked about cows that have a lot of capacity and milk what he meant in now-a-day terms is to keep and raise the kind that are high maternal, deep bodied, with lots of spring of rib and are easy fleshing so they won’t fall apart and breed back right away when they are raising their calf. Easy fleshing cows will normally be the deep bodied kind, with a lot of spring of rib. Back in Charles Pinney's day every Angus steer and heifer graded prime so carcass traits were of no concern. June 18th 2007. Requested update by our kids. Brad and his wife Jackie were married August 19, 2006: (They met at Iowa State University.) After college they both worked and lived in the Sioux City area. In 2007 Brad got a chance, through his job, to move closer to our home and live in Atlantic, IA. Jackie works for Wells Fargo in Des Moines as a mortgage analysis. Brad is a beef specialist for Land O Lakes. We are thrilled to have them 20 minutes away. Josh and our daughter Julie were married June 16th 2007: (They also got together at Iowa State University.) Both are now attending school at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Josh is a med student and Julie is a reproduction animal physiology grad student. She works for the University as well. We are waiting patiently for them to get back into our area as soon as their studies are completed. We are so proud of all four of these young adults. We love to be around them. Ruth (mom) works at the Myrtue Medical Center. She has been known to say she only wants to deal with one thing at a time to keep her life simple. The weddings are over YEAH, and she says all mom's will understand. Brian (dad) is the "chore boy" at Twin Oaks Angus Farm and spends a lot of time with the "computer thing" called Advantage Cattle Services. We all enjoy the cattle business and the tremendous people we have met through this "computer thing." We put our attention on the cows. We know that great cows make great bulls and heifers and we only use bulls that are out of great cows. When you find a bull that sires tremendous daughters we know the future is bright. We feel we have some of the best heifers we have ever raised and invite you to go to the Herd Sire link and check out our line up of female makers. We believe the sons and daughters out of great cows will do a great job and the sons and daughters out of the average cow will do an average job. Guess what the sons and daughters out of a poor cow will do! That is why we stress: Twin Oaks Angus Farm is creating Angus cattle that are:1.) High in maternal value and carcass traits2.) That are easy fleshing and raise a big calf without creep feed3.) Cows that breed back early and are high in fertility4.) Bulls that will sire this type of cattle
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We would love to hear from youTwin
Oaks Angus Farm E-mail twinoaks@fmctc.com
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